Wednesday, 17 April 2013

Article - Bharatanatyam and ballet - Miriam Lamas Baiak

The bodily techniques would be nothing else than the body’s capacity to adapt in front of varied situations, creating one habit that is handed to the new generation and changing accordingly to each nation and each historical period. When two or more techniques meet in some period of history, they can merge, bringing to the future generations a tradition modified by the the influence of other society and culture. Taking in consideration the theories of human development of Gallahue and Ozmun (2001), we are results of our genetics, of the ambient that we live in and the tasks we realize. So, if Rukmini Devi practiced classical ballet, there’s no way that the style developed by her didn’t have influence of western ballet.

So, the West too may have taken from India not only themes for their ballets, but also corporal movements, like Anna Pavlova. Besides rescuing what Europe had forgotten, the beautiful traditions of Indian dances undergo corporal influence in her compositions with the help of a Indian dancer Uday Shankar, and together they put up shows like ‘Radha and Krishna’ and ‘Hindu Wedding’ being a success in Europe, United States and in India itself. Pavlova was applauded for her " modern Indian" choreographies.

Even the role of Bharatanatyam in temples have a totally different dimension to ballet in European palaces (Gaston,1996). We can´t stop thinking of their technical similarities that can be the result of a "rendezvouz" at the end of the 18th and beginning of 19th centuries. To Gaston (1996) the artistic vision of Bharatanatyam will be always diverse and like every art, will continue to adapt and change.Read the article in the site